A given person may have roles in several different Cochrane entities, but the IMS functions optimally when each person is represented by a single record. For this reason, it is important for Super Users to look out for potential duplicates when creating a person, and to check on a regular basis to see whether their entity has any duplicates that need resolving. The Resolve Duplicate Wizard will guide you through the steps involved in viewing and resolving duplicates in your entity.
Only Super Users can resolve duplicates, and they can do so only for records with their entity as the Primary entity. See Permissions and Editing Entity roles.
From the menu bar, choose Tools > Resolve Duplicates . . . . The Resolve Duplicates Wizard opens. If you have received a message about a duplicate being marked, you can also open the Resolve Duplicates Wizard from within that message.
Under Primary entity of person, there will be a drop-down list of all the entities in which you have permission to resolve duplicates (this should be identical to the list of entities in which you are a Super User). Select the entity for which you want to resolve duplicates. Only entities that currently have duplicates will be listed here.
On the same screen, the lower box will display a list of all persons with duplicates in the selected entity. If there are no duplicates to be resolved, this will be stated. Click the name of the duplicate you want to resolve, then click Next.
The next screen will display the duplicate information, consisting of the Master and Duplicate records side-by-side so you can compare them. The label above the record that has been most recently edited will be highlighted in green. At this point you can verify whether the records are indeed duplicates, or should be kept as separate records. To proceed to the editing screens, click Next.
The next three screens of the Resolve Duplicates Wizard will allow you to make any changes needed to the Master record. Changes can be made by directly editing the fields in the Master record, by using the drop-down lists provided, or by transferring data from the Duplicate record to the Master record by clicking the arrow buttons. When you are finished making changes to the fields displayed on each page, click Next.
The concluding screen will display the edited Master and Duplicate records side-by-side for comparison. Check to make sure all the changes you wanted to make have been entered. If necessary, you can return to earlier screens in the Resolve Duplicates Wizard by clicking the Back button.
When you have completed your editing, choose from the list of options displayed in the bottom right corner of the screen:
Delete duplicate – move roles to master: Will save changes made to the Master record, delete the Duplicate record, and transfer entity and document roles and Notes from the Duplicate record to the Master record;
Delete duplicate – discard roles: Will save changes made to the Master record and delete the Duplicate record without transferring any roles or Notes;
Keep as separate record: Will save any changes made to the Master record and save the Duplicate as a separate record (i.e., no longer marked as a duplicate);
Keep as duplicate – resolve later: Will save any changes made to the Master record and leave the Duplicate still marked as such.
When you have made your selection, click Finish. The next screen will summarize the results of your actions.
To resolve another duplicate, click Restart; this will take you back to the opening screen of the Resolve Duplicates Wizard.
To exit the Resolve Duplicates Wizard, click Close, or close the window.